Wednesday, December 5, 2012

On November 26th of 2012 members of the Academic
Space Launch Initiative (ASLI) conducted an initial demonstration launch of
Australia’s first rocket designed specifically for carrying educational
payloads into the upper atmosphere, and eventually to space. The rocket named
RASTA an acronym for the Recovery And Separation systems Test Article stood
over 3 meters in height with a body diameter of 15 centimeters; soared to an altitude
of over 2500 meters and was recovered from a launch site in remote Queensland
Australia, with the support of Queensland Advanced Rocketry Club members.

RASTA On Lift Off

The rocket designed by ASLI demonstrated developments in
composite materials, electronics and manufacturing support contributed by undergraduate
engineers from Adelaide and Flinders universities in South Australia, and the University
of New South Wales. ASLI also provided the lead role in design and manufacture
of the rockets propulsion system, which uses an explosive free and ecologically
safe combination of Nitrous Oxide and a proprietary wax based fuel.

The launch is a successful display of ASLI’s model of coordinating
the work of undergraduate researchers with an array of Australian industry and
corporate supporters, which includes Coregas, CST Composites, NC Computer
Systems and Kinetic CNC since the projects inception in 2007.

ASLI program manager Jamie Anderson said that some minor
anomalies occurred in the rockets electronics system which had a negligible impact on the launch,
stating that all key objectives had been met with the complete recovery of the
vehicle making it possible for another launch of the rocket in 2013. The success
also paves the way toward ASLIs larger rockets designed to carry student
experiments beyond 10 kilometers in altitude in late 2013.